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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Why Ash?

Why the hell not? Ashley J Williams began his journey against the Deadite hordes in the low budget horror film “The Evil Dead”, written and directed by Mr Sam Raimi (director of Spider-Man 1-3, Drag Me to Hell and Darkman amongst others), with the greatest B-Actor in the world playing Ash. Bruce Campbell’s charisma, charm and chin gave Ash the presence of awesomeness which made him a cult icon.

Evil Dead 2 and Evil Dead 3: The Army of Darkness followed, splicing the horror genre with some classic slapstick. If you have not seen any of these films, do so now (and to settle the argument between the Thought Balloons tenured writers, Army of Darkness is the better of the three films).

The film adventures of Ash ended here, with us all hailing to the king. However, Ash’s crusade lived on in comics. Not only sticking it to the Deadite menace, Ash has also taken on Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, werewolves, Freddy, Jason, Marvel Zombies and demonised girlfriends, while all the while being, well, just COOL!

So what do our tenured writers have in mind for Ash this week? A battle for the end of the world? A new attachment for his stubbed arm? A romantic tale? The only way to find out is visit back throughout the week.

Oh, and if you have a great one page story in you about this week’s character, feel free to post it below!

and having read the first, what was it, 18 issue comic series and the marvel zombies crossover I think I have the hang of how he's treated in the extended universe. also the movies. can't wait to show how well I can butcher him in the name of comedy

@ivan you're right, I'm not sure why this is up a day early, but I'm assuming this'll just be the announcement and the actual scripts won't start till tomorrow, so please be assured you still have time for superboy

Oh man, my second week and I'm going to have quite a difficult time. I've seen Evil Dead 2 and Army or Darkness about 3 trillion times throughout high school and college. I didn't think knowing too much about a character would give me a problem.

The premise here is that Ash has been inadvertently recruited to fight a number of monsters from Greek Mythology that have started rampaging around. For this task, he’s been granted a magical pair of shades that protect him from magic that requires eye contact.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1:The GORGON takes notice of something behind her and turns to look over her shoulder towards the panel. An ‘!’ is above her head.

SFX: (Coming from the GORGON.) Hhhhhhhhhh…

Panel 2:Close up on the GORGON’s eyes as they look out with murderous intent and glow with an evil energy.

Panel 3:Panel has pulled back to reveal the whole of the GORGON’s head as she reacts in surprise to magic not having it’s intended effect.

GORGON: You remain unturned?!

Panel 4:Panel shows ASH standing in a pre-@$$ kicking pose. He has a large grin on his face. His Chainsaw is mounted on his back like a sword. Both his hands – regular and metal prosthetic – are holding his shotgun. A small lens flare highlights the sunglasses that are the true reason he hasn’t turned to stone.

ASH: Guess I’m just too much man for you to take, baby.

Panel 5:Ash raises his shotgun to aim it at the GORGON. He pumps the ammo loader to load as he does.

First issue of a brand new series. The first five pages depict a stage show from 1905. It’s Harry Houdini performing an escape trick upside down, under water, and in a strait jacket. The view goes back and forth between the stage, audience, and a certain Mr. Ashley Williams in a period-appropriate suit with a leather glove over his right hand, clearly indicating this is post-Army of Darkness.

Handcuffs - Page 6

Panel 1 - Houdini is backstage in his dressing room after the show getting ready to go greet his adoring audience The SFX is on the dressing room door.

SFX: KNOCK KNOCK

Panel 2 - Houdini opens the door and over his shoulder we see Ash is waiting in the hallway, adjusting his tie.

Ash: Helluva show Harry! So, whaddya say? You in?

Houdini: It’s quite the offer Mr. Williams. I’m still not sure why you chose me. What do I have to contribute?

Panel 3 - Ash is now in the room pouring himself a drink while Houdini grabs his coat from the coat rack.

Ash: You believe in ghosts Harry?

Houdini: No.

Ash: See? I need you - you’re my ghosts man.

Panel 4 - Houdini adjusts his collar as he’s getting ready to give Ash the bad news. He has a look of regret on his face as though he’d love to take Ash’s offer but just can’t find the right excuse.

Houdini: Mr. Williams, I’m afraid -

SFX: AHHHHHHHHH (a woman is screaming off in the distance)

SFX: ROOOOOOAAAAR (a wild beast lets out a might roar by the location of the scream)

Panel 5 - Ash has drawn a particularly-large revolver from a holster beneath his coat. He has a slight smile on his face. Houdini has gone white, mouth left open. They’re both looking towards the door.

The next page would be the title page with Harry answering with an unequivocal “In!” as the two characters rush off towards the noise - the theater, empty but for Manuelito battling the skinwalker.

The concept here is that Ash, using the Necronomicon and other dark artifacts he shouldn't be using, and under the guidance of a mysterious benefactor/guide, is tasked with collecting a team through time and space to fight off deadites and other evil dead things. The team is comprised of historical people or public domain characters, and each is chosen for a specific role (Houdini to deal with ghosts, Manuelito (http://tinyurl.com/365uuw3) to deal with skinwalkers, etc.). Ash would jokingly call his team the “Anachronauts” although I’m not sure what the name of the team (or book) would actually be. It’d be a little like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Over time it would be revealed that the team is actually just a counter-part to a team comprised solely of evil versions of themselves, much like Evil Ash from Army of Darkness. In fact Evil Ash is the mysterious benefactor, and through Good Ash’s actions, all of the team gets exposed to the forces/taint which makes it possible for the evil versions to be spawned in the first place (forming Evil Ash’s team). It would very much draw upon Ash's ability to do accidentally do the wrong thing while he thinks he's doing the right thing. I want to write this, badly.

Holy damn, Paul. The page you write is good. I see Ash as really having his business in order, kind of. A very effective set up but then you lay out the entire premise and I'm knocked off my feel. That's a great idea and I love that it's Evil Ash setting it all up just to get his Evil team in order. You are completely right, Ash does try his best but usually ends up hurting the good side.

I would buy this in a minute. Where's Dynamite for a cold pitch when you need one?

Thanks guys for all the kind comments. Honestly I wasn't sure what to do with him that wouldn't be obvious, but then I began thinking about all those great team-building issues of the Avengers. It came to me to ask what Ash would be like in this situation, and the idea just grew from there. Writing Ash continuing to fail at everything (but with style) would be a heckuva lot of fun.